15 Beyond Cluster Policy? Birmingham, Poznan and Helsinki Caroline Chapain, Krzysztof Stachowiak and Mari Vaattovaara Introduction This chapter explores the extent to which cluster policies are necessary and sufficient to support the development of creative and knowledge industries at the local and regional levels using the example of three very different European cities: Helsinki in Finland, Birmingham in the UK and Poznan in Poland. As discussed in Chapter 2 of this book, economic cluster theory has been increasingly used to understand and foster local and regional economic development in the last 20 years (OECD, 2007; Oxford Research, 2008; CEC, 2008). The shift from macroeconomic level approaches towards the microeconomic foundations of competitiveness and growth together with the emergence of knowledge and creative industries have supported this approach as they have a tendency to cluster (United Nations, 2008; Vorley, 2008). While the cluster concepts has been used in regional policies to a great degree (OECD, 2007; Oxford Research, 2008), it has been widely debated to a point where some authors find it confusing and unhelpful (Martin and Sunley, 2003). For example, questions arise about the possibility of delimit- ing clusters geographically and the extent to which clusters can be created by governments or through deliberate partnerships. In addition, there are some issues regarding the extent to which local and regional governments build on existing local and regional strengths, and over the extent to which they look for new strengths with regard to economic specialisations when developing cluster strategies. Finally, some questions emerge in terms of the degree of embeddedness of cluster strategies in broader urban development strategies and visions.